The Shadows in the Mists
by Augusta Almeda
Summary: Now married to Godric,Rowena attempts to mend her friendship with Helga as a civil war breaks out after the death of King Arthur and Setiva warns of betrayals closer to home.Sequel to Fate and Fortune.R&R.
1. Contemplating Consequences

Author's Note: I apologize for the wait on this story to my readers. I have been suffering from both the flu and writer's block, but here's the beginnings of what I managed to cull out of my notes on the Fate and Fortune series for Book 2-The Shadows in the Mists. Be on the watch for the title of this to change if I think of a better one-this was the best I could do on short notice.

Augusta

Disclaimer: See the disclaimers forBook One, it hasn't changed.

15 December 1012 Anno Domini

Rowena tucked a stray strand of hair back into place and scrawled a loopy signature on a letter. Wording letters to Helga was a delicate process, taking most of her skill to avoid anything at all that could lead to Helga figuring out her secret. Or rather, Gwyneth figuring out her secret. Helga lacked the kind of mind to decipher the intricacies of what people said and then what they actually said. Gwyneth, though...The woman was highly intelligent, and would see straight through a weak cover. She looked at her handiwork critically.

_Dear Sister,_

_We'll have to winter at Glen. It's already snowing here, though I doubt the first freeze has come to Lanast. We have harsh winters in Glen; almost as hard as those in the tales of Tintagel and the moors that Godric tells me. He's well,and sends his love. You should have seen his face, Helga, when I told him about growing up here in Glen. It seems so little andold-fashioned to him; I fear he's entirely too much the lord gentleman. I've decided that before we go back to Tintagel, he'll have a whole new perspective on country bumpkins. _

_I fear I can't linger long over a letter. I have many duties and little leisure here, as the work for the Lady of Glen never truly ends. I know you worry so, so I spare a moment each week to write you a paragraph or so. Do try to understand, Helga darling, why I can't send you lovely long letters like you send me. I simply don't have time. I wake up and go to work, and fall asleep as soon as the work's done. Still, I am happy, in a way. I was not raised to luxury and idleness. Until next week, dear,_

_Rowena_

" Well, Godric, what d'you think? Good enough?"

Her husband leaned over her shoulder to read, a bit of a grin on his face. " Couldn't have done it better myself. You're as wonderful at lying for me as you are at everything else." He laughed a little dryly. Only they and Helga and Salazar would have been able to understand why it was funny that Rowena had to do Godric's lying for him. He was a horrible liar, she thought absent-mindedly as she twisted her wedding ring. It still felt odd there, that ring. So did calling herself Rowena Gryffindor as opposed to Rowena Ravenclaw. Still, there was nothing that anyone, not even Gwyneth, could do to part them now. There was not a single loophole in the law that could be used to make the marriage invalid. As if he knew what she was thinking, he kissed her.

"Let the old cats talk," he muttered into her hair. "We've gone this long without their approval, so what's the rest of our lives? If Lady Jelansen and Marie refuse to have anything to do with us for the remainder of our time on this earth, I'd say we're better off than we were to start with. I can't say I'd call the company of either one of them a pleasure." Rowena didn't miss the fact that he omitted mentioning the 'cats' that would probably go into fits at finding out that Godric Gryffindor had married Rowena Ravenclaw, so she brought them up herself.

" What're we going to say to the others besides them when we get home?" she asked. " Salazar's going to throw a fit, and for all Francis's protests that he wants his brood to marry whoever they want to, I don't believe he'll be happy to learn that you married me behind his back, and as for Gwyneth and Helga-"

" We'll just tell them that that's the way it is and throwing fits about it won't change the facts of the matter," he said firmly. " My father is a reasonable man. He told me just before we came to Lanast the time I met you that if I didn't care to marry Helga, then I could wed someone else quietly and that be the end of it. Not in breakfast-table banter, either, love. At the time, I'll confess I did not care who I married- Helga was as good as the next woman. Then," he sighed theatrically, " I met you. I think the moment I laid eyes on you was when I decided I'd never marry Helga."

" Isn't it strange?" she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder for a moment. " If we had never met, we would have just married who we were told to, and where would we have been then?"

" I could tell you, but I won't." She laughed a little. The Sight, of course. Of her new family, only two besides herself didn't have the ability to See- her sister-in-law, Marie, and her father-in-law, Francis. Rowena had no desire to know what was going to happen; logic said that it could only lead to pain and problems.

" When are you planning to tell Francis about us?" she asked.

Unless she was very much mistaken, Godric had gone very wary. " I-ah-already have, Rowena. I wrote."

Rowena's eyes flew open. " You wrote! Good God and Mary Virgin preserve us! I see now why your family got your surname!"

" Some have said it was for bravery, and some for sheer madness. I prefer to think the first." When she didn't laugh, he put a consoling hand on her shoulder. "There was hardly any way we could keep him from finding out, Rowena. Better to let him get over his intial reaction before we actually see him and the rest of the household. I asked him to keep it quiet, and he will."

" So now you, me, Isabel, Mama, Francis, John, Beatrice, and the priest all know," Rowena said, naming off the people who had been informed of Godric and Rowena's marriage. " How safe is a secret between so many?"

" Isabel and Enna and the Holy Father won't speak, and I doubt you or I are going to rush off to tell Helga," Godric said consideringly, obviously thinking it out. " John and Beatrice would betray us, given the chance, but a simple charm keeps them from saying anything without our consent. Father should keep his mouth shut just to keep peace in his home for a while longer-as you said, Salazar is not going to be happy at having you snatched away from him."

" Snatched away?" Rowena demanded. " What is that supposed to mean? I never was his to begin with!"

" He thought you were." Godric looked old for a moment. " Salazar can be obsessive over some things-over things he considers to be his.You are one of those things. It will take him a long time to resign himself to this marriage. But he will. Salazar can hold a grudge for ages, but I've never known him to not forgive and forget with time."

" I'm afraid, Godric," she said softly.

" Of what?"

"What's coming. You don't have to be a Seer to know that more than some bad feelings are going to be stirred up by this. What's going to happen, Godric?" He didn't answer, and for once she was glad that he was as unwilling to admit the truth as she was to know it.


	2. An Unwelcome Departure

Author's Note: For those now submitting unsigned reviews and those not on my Author Alert list, I have now committed to posting something by or on every Sunday unless circumstances outside my control arise(computer crash, power outage, storms, illness, etc.). Just check my profile every Sunday to see what I've been doing the week in question.

Augusta

The winter months passed happily for Rowena and Godric, the unchanging happiness of a temporary retreat to Eden. Cut off from discourse with other humans besides the staff, they were able to forget, for a time, the challenges waiting in the world outside. It was too good to last. Try as she would to ignore it, Rowena could see the beginnings of the spring thaws by the beginning of March, and by April it was spring indeed and time to return to life in the real world. Godric noticed it too.

"Am I to guess that we'll be leaving soon?" he asked her one day in the library.

"Yes," Rowena said absently, stretching to reach a book on the shelf. She gave him a brief smile when he handed it to her. "I'm afraid we will."

"A pity...we have been happy here."

"Yes." Rowena's throat tightened momentarily before she shook the feeling off. She was not normally given to sentimentalism and disliked it when she did show it. Glen would still be here next winter, and every winter after that. "I'll be going back to Lanast for the time being."

Godric made a startled, surprised movement. "Lanast? Why?"

"Think. Gwyneth is probably already suspicious that she hasn't been recieving letters from Salazar begging to marry me. If I go back to Tintagel now and she still hears nothing, she'll smell a rat for sure. "

"You fear her, don't you?"

"Yes. Gwyneth Hufflepuff may only be a Muggle, but she's a dangerous woman."

Godric gave her a strange look. "Muggle?"

"Sorry. It's a local term-it simply means 'not a witch or wizard'. "

"Muggle...strange word, but back to the point. I agree with you about Gwyneth. Her goodwill is not necessary, but..."

"Keeping her in good graces for as long as possible might be our best chance of holding on to Helga's. I-I would not like to lose Helga forever. She's an idiot without a backbone or a thought in her head that wasn't put there, but I am fond of her."

"As am I. She's our sister, really. She'll come around, Rowena. Helga could never hold a grudge for long."

"You don't know how she is about you, Godric. I've never seen anyone like that. You would have gotten a far more loving wife by marrying her, I reassure you. Helga worships you."

"I could not wish for more than I already have. Do you remember the conversation we had about Helga at the ball the night we met?"

"Of course. What about it?"

"There is one thing we forgot in our character assessment of her. Helga is simply in love with the idea of being in love. She's heard too many tales about the High King and Queen Guinevere and about old Uther and Igraine and imagines that such unusual stories as theirs are commonplace."

"Uther and Igraine I don't know so very much about, but Guinevere I grew up with. Nasty, unpleasant girl for all her fair face. That silly tale about her garden and a hat enchanted by Merlin is sheer twaddle. Guinevere wanted to be High Queen, so she dazzled the King with her beauty and then tricked him into signing an agreement written up by Leodegraunce which gave Arthur a hundred horses for his cavalry in exchange for marrying Gwen."

Godric laughed at the idea of the great King Arthur being manipulated by a country princess. "No wonder Arthur lets the tales of their great garden love be told! He looks like a proper idiot, being tricked into marriage by a pretty face and some sugar lies."

"That is the secret of the women of our line," Rowena said, lowering her voice as if confiding a secret. "We are quite ruthless, using our beauty, charm, and magical ability to get the men we want."

"Then you are a credit to your family, my lady," Godric said, kissing her hand.

The next day, they parted ways at Galava, one heading south towards Dumnonia and Tintagel and the other north towards Gwynned and Lanast.

Second Author's Note: I know it was stated earlier that Rowena and Guinevere are not blood relatives. In case anyone gets confused, Rowena was joking.

Augusta


	3. A Series of HalfLies

Author's Note: I know, I know, I'm not being a very good author lately. No sooner than I was back on a nice roll with my writing than my modem breaks and I'm offline for two weeks and lose an entire chapter of The Sons of Thunder due to a emergency shutdown. Still, I'm back and hope to remain so.

Augusta

Helga was almost as excited when Rowena returned to Lanast as she had been the day Rowena arrived there in the first place. Gwyneth gave her a smile and seemed surprised when Rowena merely nodded cooly. She couldn't blame Helga for the whole affair of setting her up as Salazar's wife and Godric's mistress-Helga simply wasn't bright enough to think it up or execute it, frankly-but Gwyneth...Rowena couldn't repress the feeling that she was living in the house of the enemy when she passed back through the doors with Gwyneth and Helga.

Rowena was startled to find that Lord Anthony had died over the winter, though she wasn't surprised that his wife and daughter barely noticed. Anthony had been incredibly easy to forget when one had to deal with Gwyneth. In the second of two bold, unconventional moves he would ever make in his life, he had left Lanast to Helga with Gwyneth holding the property for her until Helga was mature enough to manage property, in his words.

She was barely settled into her old rooms when Gwyneth came sweeping in, fiddling a little with her rosary. "You've been away for some time now, Rowena," she said, only too obviously trying to sound light and uninterested.

Rowena laughed mirthlessly. "Just ask what it is that you want to ask, Gwyneth."

Gwyneth looked up, startled. Rowena had always called her 'my lady Gwyneth' before, but now it was just 'Gwyneth.' Easy enough to understand how that would unsettle the woman. "Very well, then. The issue at hand is Salazar."

"What about him?"

"Don't toy with me, girl," Gwyneth said coldly. "If not for me, you'd be nobody for the rest of your life. Are you betrothed?"

"Yes." Rowena never hesitated at the half-lie. Marriage and betrothal were two words for the same thing in some places, and Gwyneth had not specified who Rowena was betrothed _to._ The older woman clearly believed her, because her face relaxed at once.

"Simply marvellous, Rowena. Have you told Helga yet? I'm sure she'll be delighted. I do wish, however, that you had sent word ahead so we could begin work on your bridegift and the other things you'll need-when is the wedding?"

"At Tintagel this summer. We're hoping to have everything very quiet, not much fuss, just the four of us-that is, myself, Helga, Salazar, and Godric, and the house priest of course." Nothing quite a lie.

"A pity-you really haven't spent much time here with us," Gwyneth said. "Still, it is your good fortune that you've secured a count for a husband at your age and in your circumstances."

"My circumstances are not so lowly as all that, Gwyneth." _Lady of Tintagel, no less,_ she thought dryly.

"Of course not, but it is still your good fortune."

"Of course."

Gwyneth didn't dally long, leaving only a few minutes after she had, in her mind, recieved verification that her daughter's future was secure. _Forgive me, both of you, _Rowena thought as the door closed behind the Hufflepuff matriarch. _I could not live my whole life trying to please everyone._ Once she had collected herself, she went to Helga's rooms.

"What is it?" Helga said, looking slightly concerned when she saw Rowena's face. "Is something the matter?"

_You have no idea._ "More like is something right," she said, forcing a smile. She hated lying to Helga. "I'm to become a married woman at Tintagel this summer." Helga gave a squeal of delight and leapt to her feet to embrace her.

"Oh, Rowena, how lovely! Why didn't you or Salazar ever say anything? I've always thought you two were so well suited, you'll be happy, darling-"

Rowena laughed, though she wanted to cry. "This from the girl who told me flat-out the day I met her that she thought he was going to go raving mad and kill us all one day?"

"Oh, I just talk and talk sometimes. I didn't really mean it, Rowena. We'll both be so happy, you with Salazar and me with Godric-" Helga broke off then, her face shining with the rosy future she thought she could almost see, and Rowena truly hated herself for a moment.


	4. The Summer Invitation

Spring progressed slowly towards summer. This year there were no parties or revels to attend due to the Hufflepuff household technically still being in mourning for Anthony, leaving Rowena with nothing to organize and run. It made keeping up her act much more difficult than it would have been otherwise. She could put off some slip-ups as grief for Anthony, who she had been genuinely fond of, or as being a nervous bride, but not very many. For the most part, she had to continue to act as if Helga's idea of their perfect futures really was going to happen, and it was almost too much to be borne.

"I need something to _do_," she complained irritably to Helga. "Mary Virgin's Mantle! I feel like a cat in a box."

"You could start planning your wedding," Helga suggested.

Rowena smiled wryly, recalling her wedding. "Isabel's in charge of that," she said. It had been Isabel, along with Setiva, who arranged things so she would be married now. Rising, she began to pace up and down. "Gwyneth's in charge of everything else. Mother of God, there has to be something I can do to pass the time!"

It was almost three weeks before Rowena finally found a project she could channel her energies into. For the majority of each day, she worked on a compendium of spells and other elements of the magical craft. A dangerous piece of work, but she had always thought someone should write it all down. It wasn't long before she was planning a historical work to match it. Gwyneth was fascinated by the work, and Rowena was startled to discover that Gwyneth was only just barely literate. Richard Ravenclaw had entertained advanced ideas about the education of women, but Gwyneth's childhood convent had apparently never adopted the same view. She could read and write just enough Latin to get by with and no more. Her scribe had to read out more complex correspondances. In spite of her resentment towards the Hufflepuff matriarch, Rowena took on expanding Gwyneth's education as another project to fill her days with.

Godric wrote as often as he could manage without it seeming suspicious. Salazar was apparently in a more murderous frame of mind than usual, and, as Godric put it, it was better for everyone if they all humored him until he 'put his head on straight'. Rowena found it somehow amusing that her best friend was so pleased over her marrying a man who seemed more and more mentally unstable by the day. She and Salazar might have done well together, but it was a definite 'might'. _Salazar of all people should understand not taking risks without the certainty of rewards,_ she thought, and found that even more amusing.

Her book was progressing nicely, Gwyneth was on her way to becoming a well-educated woman,Helga was still living in a dream, and all was well with Rowena's world.

* * *

It was in the first of the spring weeks where the roses mistake the season for early summer when Francis's letter finally reached Lanast. Gwyneth almost ran to find Helga and Rowena to tell them that the Summer Invitation had been extended once more, with Francis hinting that something of importance was to happen. Gwyneth and Helga naturally assumed that he was referring to Rowena's wedding to Salazar, and Rowena didn't disillusion them. She had decided it would be wiser to sit on the truth for just a little longer, until she was safely at Tintagel. While she was at Lanast, she was on their territory. At Tintagel, she was, theoretically, on her own.

In all the time she had spent at Lanast, Rowena had never known there to be such a flurry. Every denizen of the place with the exception of Rowena herself, who was being treated as if she were made of glass, pulled out all the stops to get Helga and Rowena to Cornwall as quickly as possible, short of making them fly. There were some members of the household who might have suggested that, but even Gwyneth acknowledged that brooms were only for the lower sort of witch or for emergencies, not for the nobility. Rowena also became aware that in between ensuring that everything for her "wedding" was packed, the servants had already begun working on the same things for Helga. From the Hufflepuff perspective, it seemed only a matter of time until Helga would join Rowena as a permanent resident of Tintagel as Godric's wife.

Rowena refused to let herself think about what was going to happen when they reached their destination. She was going back to Tintagel, back to Godric. That was all she was going to think about for now. She would have more than enough time to dwell on the less pleasant aspects of this summer once everything was out in the open. She could forget it, for now. Consequently, she was in a better mood than she had been all spring, bewildering poor Helga.

"Aren't you afraid?" Helga asked curiously. "I should be dreadfully afraid, if I was going to be married."

Rowena laughed. "Why should I be?" she said. "I have nothing but good to look forward to."

Helga, bless her, still looked confused. "If you say so, dear," she said, and let the subject drop.

Even Rowena, though, was willing to admit that her happiness when Tintagel first came into view was highly uncharacteristic. Everything was just as she remembered, from the mists over the Lake to the harsh lines of the castle. It was if she were some queen returning to her native land after a long exile, and that surprised her more than anything. She had not expected to feel so strongly about the place.

Francis had not been feeling himself of late, and so it was Godric who came to meet them this time. Their eyes met, and for a moment there was almost total silence in the courtyard. It was Godric who broke it. "Welcome back to Tintagel,Rowena," he said. He didn't seem to notice that Helga was there.

She smiled. "It's good to be back," she answered, and went on unthinkingly, "It's good to be home."


End file.
